Fundraising Workshop Global Bersih organised a fundraising workshop for its members in Nyon, Switzerland. The workshop conducted by Romain Zappella, a fundraising expert from the Association for the Prevention of Torture, was attended by members of Global Bersih, Bersih Geneva and a representative from Bersih Germany. The workshop also provided a platform for the members to strategize long-term fundraising strategies. Global Bersih is planning to conduct more such workshops in the future.
GLOBAL BERSIH OUTREACH: LOCAL CHAPTERS Global Bersih Geneva: An Evening with Edmund Bon Tai Soon Global Bersih Geneva held seminar in Nyon, featuring Edmund Bon, a Malaysianlawyer highly experienced in the defence of human rights. In attendance were about 20 persons.
An evening with Malaysian leaders
EDMUND BON TAI SOON
Bala Chelliah, the President of Global Bersih, chaired the meeting where Mr. Bon recounted briefly how the Malaysiangovernment came to appoint him as the current Malaysian representative to the ASEAN Intergovernmental Human Rights Commission, which was founded in 2009. Mr. Bon fielded various questions from the public consisting of Malaysians and some non-Malaysians who listened to his answers with rapt attention. The questions were wide-ranging, from the interpretation of constitutional law by the courts to the future of the Global Bersih movement as well as aspects of the current situation in Sabah and Sarawak. The most important and relevant topic of all to our Global Bersih Geneva chapter was the thorny problem of registration and the postal ballot of overseas voters. We made a special request to Mr. Bon to help Global Bersih in this uphill fight for Malaysians living outside the country to gain the right to cast their ballot in embassies in the next general elections. The meeting ended on the upbeat note that “if we can obtain overseas voting rights, we have won half the fight”.
7 May 2017 5pm - 8.30pm UNI Global Union Ave. Reverdil 8, 1260, Nyon Switzerland
Global Bersih Geneva is pleased to host Edmund Bon Tai Soon for an unforgettable evening of fun, insightful conversations and delicious Malaysian delicacies. Edmund Bon Tai Soon is a human rights lawyer who currently holds the position as Malaysia’s Representative to the ASEAN Intergovernmental Human Rights Commission (AICHR).
National Young Lawyers and Human Rights committees. He was also the co-founder of Malaysian Centre for Constitutionalism and Human Rights (MCCHR) as well as the legal “blawg” known as “Loyar Burok”.
A graduate of University College London, he was later awarded with the Chevening Scholar to pursue his Master’s degree in International Human Rights Law from the University of Oxford. In 1998, he was admitted as an advocate and solicitor of the High Court of Malaya. He was a five-time elected member of the Bar Council and previously chaired the Constitutional Law,
As a human rights lawyer, Bon has 18 years of experience in public interest litigation. His clients were high profile politicians that include the former Chief Minister of Perak, Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin during the 2009 Perak’s political crisis. His legal firm, BON advocates also represents ISA detainees who were suspected terrorists
belonging to KMM and Jemaah Islamiyah. In 2010, he was also the counsel for six Malaysians based in the United Kingdom, who wanted to challenge the Electoral Commission’s decision not to register them as overseas voters. On 12 September 2014, he was investigated under the Sedition Act 1948 regarding his statement on how fatwas should not apply to non-Muslims, a statement made during the heightened tension surrounding the controversies on the use of the word “Allah” by Christians.
Refreshment is served. For further info, email linda.yeoh@globalbersih.org
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